At the weekend I was at a lunch with friends and the Iran election came up. The discussion briefly centred on what we can do (whether we should pressure our leaders to speak out, whether this was wise etc);Â the following is at least one contribution we can make:

This Thursday is the tenth anniversary of the brutal repression of students in Iran.

Today a new round of repression is underway in Iran.

Here is something you can do about it. An anniversary demonstration at the Iranian embassy in London is scheduled for this Thursday, starting at 6 PM. Please wear green and come along to 16 Princeâ€™s Gate, SW7. The nearest Tube station is South Kensington.

The only point â€“ and I hope this leads other British bloggers to echo this call â€“ is to show solidarity with the Iranian people.

In fact, as one Iranian exile tells me, people who â€œcome selling newspapers and lecturing the people on what they should doâ€ are not wanted. â€œJust join and express solidarityâ€, the exile says.

The majority of the people in this country don’t have a politican who represents them. It’s time for that to change.

Support our efforts to get the Government to announce a referendum on electoral reform before the next General Election. We need to restore faith in our politicians and our politics, otherwise it all goes downhill from here.

Although i don’t doubt a substantial portion of people were upset by the election and that the urbane middle classes are completely dissatisfied with the theocratic institutions; i don’t think the vast majority of iranians necessarily feel that way.

Theres a strong argument to be made that the schism in iran will only grow as more people, especially women, go to university and desire more rights, but i think the danger at present is extrapolating from the middle classes whom we can easily identify with to the rest of the country.

Kulvinder, you’re not right. Check this for more details if you like, but the fact is, Ahmedinejad has never commanded a large rural vote, because the rural areas are largely populated by ethnic and religious minorities. If you want to convince me that the election results are fair and square you’re going to have to convince me that Kurds, who are fiercely nationalist and Sunni, defied a boycott to turn out in unprecedented numbers and vote for an administration which has imprisoned and sentenced to death popular Kurdish activsts.

Kulvinder – “Unpopular opinion to say the least, but im not convinced the election was a fraud

Although i donâ€™t doubt a substantial portion of people were upset by the election and that the urbane middle classes are completely dissatisfied with the theocratic institutions; i donâ€™t think the vast majority of iranians necessarily feel that way.

Theres a strong argument to be made that the schism in iran will only grow as more people, especially women, go to university and desire more rights, but i think the danger at present is extrapolating from the middle classes whom we can easily identify with to the rest of the country.”

Do you actually believe what you write? You seem to think you know more than the international organisations who are well respected for their opinion.

If you bothered to do a bit of basic research about Iran using Google then you’d know that already the number of women graduating in Iran is accelerating ahead of men. You’d know that there is a large number of young people who are disaffected with the way the regime is run.

Then there are the large minorities like the Sunnis who are unlikely to vote for Ahmadinajad.

Then there is the manner in which the results were announced in a matter of hours so how did they count votes so quickly.

Your conclusion doesn’t add up and is pretty much a non-starter. Nice try anyway!

Equally worth considering is that if Ahmadinajad did score over 60% of the vote then where are his supporters counter demonstrations?

Why is it left to the clergy to defend him and not the people on the street who apparently voted for him en-masse.

Why is the regime resorting to the use of force to clamp down when public sentiment is with it and why are some senior clerics who support the President making statements which are conciliatory to the demands of protesters when they supposedly won and surely should be in arrogant mode and not trying to smooth things over.

Your poor attempt to convey the result may be correct doesn’t add up to the reality. Looking back not even a nice try really!!!

Perhaps those of us who can’t attend the meeting but are due for a mobile phone upgrade could start by not choosing Nokia as that company has colluded with the Iranian government by helping them trace dissident users of their equipment.

Kulvinder, the message I’m getting from Kurdish friends is that Kurds turning out for Ahmedinejad is about as likely as the Falls Road turning out for Ian Paisley. In 1980. This is how the IRI treats its minorities (scroll down to mid-page). Hardly, one would have thought, a way to gain their votes, and this demo in Kermanshah suggests a huge anger from Kurdish regions at the election results.